Thoughts on diversity in the workplace and female empowerment as a woman in business
To celebrate International Women’s Day, our Sales Solution specialist Hannah Young has written the following blog to highlight some achievements by women in business in 2021:
I think we can all agree 2020 won’t make the highlight reel but some positives it did bring about were the conversations on diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace. There is no quick fix but we are definitely on the road to improvement by opening the floor to women’s voices and acknowledging past mistakes.
The gender pay gap, sexual harassment, non-inclusive workplaces or the many other unfavourable biases are important to note as just a few of the many difficulties women in business have had to endure. However, the focus of this piece is to celebrate the women breaking glass ceilings that are paving the way for the rest of us and how adopting an equal and inclusive mindset can lead to a greater world, not just in business.
This year we have already seen Whitney Wolfe Herd become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire after listing her company, Bumble, on Nasdaq in mid-February. Ms. Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in 2014 after leaving rival dating app Tinder due to sexual harassment and discrimination from fellow CEOs. Bumble, the dating app that requires women to make the first move, was created to facilitate a comfortable and empowering online dating space for women.
Similarly, Emily Weiss built her billion dollar business, Glossier, in order to put women at the forefront. Weiss launched her unicorn company in 2014 based off the back of “hang ups” women have on the age old beauty vs brains debate. Weiss states the mission of Glossier is to give voice through beauty, and to help democratize an industry that has forever been top-down. To do what she could to support the racial justice movement last year, Weiss donated $500,000 to back black owned beauty brands with 88% of them being female owned.
Key take away
An important message here is, you don’t have to own a billion dollar cash cow in order to be a leader and support female empowerment in business. Creating an equal and inclusive work environment isn’t reinventing the wheel, even though it may seem that way for some. Empowering and supporting your workforce as a whole needs to be put as a priority and at the forefront of any business. How you nurture, feed and water your workforce is ultimately how they grow and thrive.
At CXC we are made to feel empowered in many ways. From women holding senior positions such as our global COO and ANZ CEO, to being valued, encouraged and listened to, as well as celebrating International Women’s Day is all but a few to mention.
So, some takeaways on how can we empower and support women in the workplace?
- Beware of biases and gender discrimination.
- Enable women’s voices by opening supportive lines of communications with both colleagues and upper management.
- Remember to lead by example and of adverse behaviour.
- Put time into supporting professional development through mentorship and training.
